flashed. “We can do that. It will work just as well for my purpose.”
Why was she so focused on marriage? Garik choked back an immediate denial and pushed up against the wall to sit up straighter. His body protested with every move. Maurin’s men had worked him over good. “What exactly is your purpose?”
Her end game.
“Freedom.” She said it with finality and her brows creased low over almond-shaped eyes he couldn’t discern the actual color of.
Chapter 4
Saedra knew she was taking a chance with her proposal, but she’d thought long and hard over it when the idea first unfolded in her mind. It would cover her twofold with an escape and a binding contract that meant her father wouldn’t be able to marry her to Hritham if she was caught.
Getting away from her father had been the plan since before her mother had died. At an early age and with her mother’s counsel, Saedra had learned to avoid Maurin’s more violent episodes whenever possible. Sometimes—she glanced at her weaker right leg—she wasn’t always successful.
“Do you really think I’m going to offer a life long commitment to an unknown who came in the cell I’ve been kept in for weeks? A cell in the dungeon of the target I was assigned to eliminate?” Garik snorted and a glimmer of rage passed in those cold gray eyes watching her so intently.
His feelings were understandable. She knew he would have doubts. Only they didn’t have time for her to list all the reasons it was in his best interest to help her in order for her to help him. She went straight to the point. “Do you want to die?”
He arched a dark brow along with a pointed look around them.
Saedra firmed her lips, took a deep breath then spoke again. “Do you want vengeance?”
That resonated. She heard it in the sharp intake of breath he couldn’t hide. All she had to do was impress upon him the importance of this. She leaned forward in eagerness. “Then you don’t have a choice. I can get you out and all you have to do is—” what word had he used? “mate...all you have to do is your mate thing with me.”
He shifted and a grimace of pain crossed his features. For a moment, Saedra wondered if it was too late and he was going to die whether he accepted her unorthodox bargain or not. Rough fingers landed on the back of her hand and squeezed. She glanced down and found her hand clenching on his thigh. One that was obviously injured if his expression was anything to go by.
Appalled, Saedra yanked her hand back, finding her fingers damp and sticky. She’d been squeezing his injury! “I’m sorry. So sorry.”
One of the many habits her father hadn’t been able to cure her of was Saedra’s need to touch and be touched in return.
The tendons in Garik’s throat flexed as he swallowed. He was panting too hard to speak. Saedra automatically reached for his shoulder to soothe his suffering and froze in mid-motion. A hot flush filled her cheeks as embarrassment crashed over her and she let her arm drop in her lap.
Garik finally caught his breath, the corner of his mouth twitched. “You can’t help yourself, can you?”
His voice was hoarse, the rasp still present from screaming, no doubt. Steps scuffed out in the hall and they both tensed. Saedra stared over her shoulder, breath suspended as she waited to be caught. There was no excuse she could offer for her presence here. No reason that would be valid or believed. She wasn’t even supposed to know these dungeons existed, let alone that a prisoner was in them.
When no one entered their private corner and the sound of boots faded away, she firmed her resolve. Crossing her fingers behind her back, she said, “I need your answer now, or I’m leaving alone.”
Not that she would. There was no way she’d get out from under her father’s household without help. This man might be weakened but he had connections. There was an entire organization of people who would surely come to his aid if she got him somewhere safe to contact them. The Assassin Guild members had loyalty to the brotherhood.
Or so it was believed by those on the outside. Like Saedra. She had to believe. She had nothing else to go on.
Garik stared at her long and hard. Refusing to back down, Saedra met him stare for stare. Then she saw it. She’d won. It